Haunted
by dcmasters
Summary: Her life was perfect. Everything seemed to be going right, until one phone call changed everything. Will the team find her before it's too late? Warning: This story contains femslash. Cath/Sara.


**This is my first solo CSI fanfic.**

**This story has a female/female relationship. If that is not your thing, please turn away now.**

**I, unfortunately, do not own anything relating to CSI and have merely borrowed the characters.**

**Reviews are appreciated, whether you love or hate, especially since this is my first solo fic.**

**Also, apologies for the first chapter being so short, but I needed to introduce the scenario before I explore the rest of the story.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and connected with the fresh blood that had trickled its way down her cheek from the oozing cut just below her hairline. As her head continued to pound, she let her eyes flicker shut for a moment, but as quickly as her eyelids shut they opened again in a desperate bid to stop herself slipping into unconsciousness.

_It had been thirty-six hours._

At first, the pain had felt like a knife being stabbed into her back and twisted, but now all she felt was the occasional twinge accompanied by a constant sensation of pins and needles down both legs. Her wrists ached and she was deathly cold. She knew she needed to be found, and soon.

* * *

_Forty-eight hours earlier._

CSI Catherine Willows woke up in a state of bliss. She found herself tightly encased in the arms of her lover, fellow CSI Sara Sidle, and she couldn't deny it was her favorite place.

The couple had kept their relationship a secret from their family, friends and colleagues as they knew of the controversy it could cause. Last night, however, they'd talked for hours about the prospect of telling their closest friends, but that also meant telling their boss, Night Shift Supervisor Gil Grissom and, in turn, Conrad Ecklie.

It was their lives, they could both remain objective when it came to work, so what would the problem be aside from the fact that Catherine was Assistant Night Shift Supervisor and the small fact it was technically against lab policy. It wasn't as if Gil couldn't, and already wasn't, dealing with Sara directly at Catherine's earlier insistence.

The strawberry blond woman watched the slumbering brunette for a long time, finally leaning over to kiss her. "Good morning, babe," she whispered in Sara's ear with a smile.

"Mmm, morning," Sara grinned, returning the kiss as her eyes glanced to the clock, then gave a frown. "Ugh! We have work in two hours."

"I know but then we have a whole twenty-four hours to ourselves and you know how often that happens," Catherine replied, a mischievous grin adorning her face.

"From memory the last time was three months ago, and even then you got called in because Gil decided to go sick," the brunette smiled, finally pulling herself from Catherine's arms, but slowly leaned back over to steal another kiss. "I'm just going to grab a shower. I love you."

"Love you too," Catherine smiled.

* * *

"This is Catherine," the older woman spoke, answering her cell six hours into her shift as she worked her latest scene – a double homicide.

A strange, deep voice boomed back down the line. "CSI Willows?"

"Yes? Who is this?" Catherine frowned, earning a concerned look across the room from Sara.

"It doesn't matter who I am. Leave your scene immediately, or Lindsey will be in a worse state than she is now. Do not talk to anyone. Get in your car and drive south until I call and give you further directions. You need to act quickly CSI Willows," the voice replied, then the line cut off.

Fearing the worst for her daughter's safety, and not wanting to make matters worse, Catherine immediately placed down her equipment and the confused CSI made a quick exit from the building. The sudden exit made the brunette follow her path, but she was too late. Catherine's vehicle was already kicking up a dust path as she sped from the scene.

Knowing it was unlike Catherine to leave a scene without, at the very least, telling someone she needed to leave, Sara approached Brass asking for him to get units to immediately find the older woman's vehicle and keep an eye on her, a request which was immediately undertaken.

* * *

_Two hours later._

Uniformed officers stumbled across Catherine's abandoned vehicle in the middle of the desert and the Crime Scene Investigators were instantly called. Examining both the interior and exterior, there were no immediate signs of a struggle. It was almost as though the strawberry blond had gone willingly, but why?

"Hey, look!" Greg suddenly called, causing everyone on scene to instantly give him attention. "This looks like Catherine's weapon."

A flurry of CSI's raced toward him and stood with the same grave look on their faces. Their training always told them to carry their weapons, unless their lives were under threat if they didn't place their gun down.

"I've got blood!" one of the cadets called near a shrub on the other side of the vehicle. They branches appeared to be spattered with the thick, red fluid slowly dripping in the desert heat.

"Nick, take samples and finish processing the scene with Greg. The rest of us will head back to the lab and go through Catherine's case files, see if we can find any leads from threats against her," Grissom commanded.

"But..." Sara began to protest.

"No buts. Take that swab from Nick and take it to Wendy as soon as we get back, then go through Catherine's office. There must be something," he replied, pinching his nose as he tried to sound like there was still hope for their colleague. In reality, with the spatter, he knew any chance they had now was slim, but he'd never admit that to his team.

"Where are you, Catherine?" Sara whispered to herself, eyes scanning the scene a finally time before she left.


End file.
